The 45-storey Baltimore Tower by Galliard Homes on the Isle of Dogs (Picture: supplied)

The Isle of Dogs is one of London’s most exciting places to live and work. In the space of a few decades, it has been transformed from industrial wasteland to dazzling go-to district and the capital’s second financial centre.

Until recently, it was practically inaccessible, being surrounded by water, with the Thames on three sides and the former West India Dock along the fourth, virtually cutting it off from the rest of the city.

Even before the Docklands Light Railway opened and developers moved in, the Isle of Dogs was easy to pick out on a map. Not just because it’s cradled inside the river’s deepest bend but because it appears in the opening and closing sequence of EastEnders.

Following the closure of the docks in the 1970s, the London Docklands Development Corporation was created to secure regeneration across the entire Docklands area.

London City Airport opened, the DLR started running and Canary Wharf began taking shape. The dockside development – sporting a skyline to rival New York’s – is now made up of more than 35 steel and glass buildings housing dozens of company headquarters, including HSBC, Barclays, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley, plus 280 shops, bars, cafes and restaurants.

The statistics are impressive for both work and play: more than 16million sq ft of office and retail space extends across a 99-acre site; 105,000 people work here; the Canada Square branch of Waitrose is the country’s largest and the 12m-long whisky bar at popular haunt Boisdale holds more than 1,000 bottles of the hard stuff.

The jewel in Canary Wharf’s crown is the 50-storey, 244m tall tower at One Canada Square. Lofty enough to warrant an aircraft warning light on top, it was Britain’s tallest building until overtaken by The Shard (310m) in 2012.

The skyline of Canary Wharf on the Isle of Dogs (Picture: Alamy)

As yet, Canary Wharf has no residential housing schemes but this will change once Canary Wharf Group is granted planning permission for a mixed-use development at Wood Wharf, on its eastern edge. This will deliver 3,100 homes, offices with a focus on creative and IT companies, and more than 100 shops, restaurants and cafes.

Transport links on the Isle of Dogs – called the Island by locals – are now very good, with six DLR stations, the Jubilee line at Canary Wharf – open since 1999 – and London Overground from Canada Water, one stop on. All are in Zone 2 and an annual Travelcard into Zone 1 costs £1,256.

Connectivity and journey times will be better still when Crossrail opens in 2018: Bond Street will be 13 minutes away and Heathrow 39 minutes from Canary Wharf’s new Crossrail station.

Crossrail will also impact on the local property market. Real estate and investment company CBRE is forecasting that prices near the station will rise nearly 20 per cent and trigger further investment and development across the Isle of Dogs.

The Island stretches to Island Gardens, facing Greenwich, and includes social housing and turn-of-the-century terraces, as well as gleaming, landmark towers filled with glossy apartments, many with waterside views.

Those in Cascades Tower – the area’s first residential high-rise, completed in 1988 – continue to sell well, as do the two towers of Ballymore’s Pan Peninsula, finished in 2009. A number of resales are available at Baltimore Wharf, completed by Ballymore in 2012.

Wood Wharf by Ballymore (Picture: supplied)

New developments include Ballymore’s Providence Tower at New Providence Wharf. The final apartments, priced from £450,000, will be released shortly.

Galliard Homes has also launched the second phase of apartments between the 12th and 37th floors of the twisty 45-storey Baltimore Tower. The studios, one, two and three-bed homes, starting at £440,000, feature floor-to-ceiling windows.

The same developer has Premium Collection apartments for sale from £317,500 on the upper floors of the 31-storey Lincoln Plaza, five minutes walk from Canary Wharf.

And Telford Homes has a selection of apartments at two developments – 26-storey Horizons, near Canary Wharf, where two-bedroom properties start at £550,000, and Parkside Quarter, near Mudchute Park, from £270,000 for a studio.

‘The Island is a great place to live – it’s vibrant, easily accessible, built on water, and has fantastic shopping and restaurants,’ says Alan Selby, of Alan Selby & Partners estate agents.

There’s nowhere else on this scale, it’s very close to Shoreditch, and people love water as it’s so calming.

‘We get investors, downsizers, upsizers and first-time buyers, who often rent locally first. One-bedroom flats always go quickly and start at £320 per week. Lots of people work in the West End but prefer to live here.

‘Resale apartments are £600 to £700 per sq ft, or from £300,000 for one-bedroom and £400,000 for a two-bed. New-builds are from £800 per sq ft and more than £1,000 in a premium tower. People are used to living in high-rises and love the lifestyle and facilities.’